Grocery Shopping
by thespectatorion
Summary: Ino likes babies. And Shikamaru. ShikaIno, KibaOC, ChoujiHinata, ShinoHanabi.
1. A Boy And A Baby

Kinda random. A story of Good-Samaritanism.

ShikaIno, in a way. If I continued it, it would be. And I kinda do want to continue it...

Oh, and keep in mind that in this world, they weren't on the same Genin team- heck, they didn't even know each other.

* * *

Ino hated grocery shopping. 

"Hello," she said, leaning on her grocery cart in line to pay for her food... and bored out of her mind.

The baby, held in the arms of the person in front of her and clad in a frilly ensemble that included a bright red bow on the top of her head, cooed something unintelligible and stared back at her with wide red eyes that clearly were waiting for an answer.

"I'm fine, thanks, how're you?"

More cooing.

"Oh, really? That's too bad."

The baby babbled at her.

"Why yes, I do like your bow. It's very cute. Where is it from?"

Babbling and cooing.

"Huh. I'll have to check that place out."

The boy holding the baby turned around, abandoning the task of placing the items in his cart on the conveyor belt and staring at her. "Are you having a conversation with her?"

Ino shrugged. "Yeah, don't you?"

"Yeah... But I never thought anyone else would..."

"She's such a chatterbox." Ino grinned.

"Yes, she is." The boy smiled, too.

The baby started squirming.

"Her name is Akane," the boy said, shrugging. "Thought you might be curious."

"Like her eyes..."

"Yup. Her mom's the same way. She needed a break today so I took Akane."

Akane started to squirm more.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked Akane, completely concerned.

Ino's motherly instinct told her. "Her diaper."

The boy sighed. "Akane, can you wait?" Akane started to cry.

"I'll take care of it," said Ino suddenly. Poor baby. The boy frowned, and Ino looked at him- really looked- for the first time.

He had the air about him of someone who really didn't care about much. His hair, tied into a messy ponytail, stuck up in strange ways. His eyes were brown, along with his tanned, dark-ish skin. In each of his ears a gold hoop shone. He had on his arm a forehead protector- don't ask Ino why- of the city of Konohagakure, indicating that he was a ninja of the Hidden Leaf.

In short, he was kinda hot.

"But you're next in line..." He contemplated her. "What're you going to do?"

"Load my stuff, will you?" she asked. "I won't be long."

"Well... all right. Here's a diaper that Kurenai made me bring just in case." He pulled a small box out of the front of his cart. "Some wipes, too."

Who was Kurenai? Maybe his sister? Well... judging by the name, she must have been related to Akane.

"Oh, and by the way," said the boy. "If I don't get Akane back, there will be several people who will happily go to jail for the chance to kill you. I'm one of them."

His eyes were cold, and Ino assessed him in terms of how likely it was that he really did mean that.

He was strong, tall, a ninja, and his eyes were chillingly cool.

It was likely.

Very, very likely.

Well, that was incentive. Even though she too was a ninja, he looked stronger than she was.

"All right," said Ino. "I'll be right back." She grabbed her purse- who knew this wasn't a clever robbery?- and fled toward the back bathroom of the store with Akane in her arms.

Changing the baby's diaper quickly, she brought the now-happy infant up to the front again.

The boy was done paying, and was standing looking out the window up at the clouds.

"Thanks so much," he said gratefully.

Ino's stuff was loaded onto the conveyor belt, and the people behind her were somewhat annoyed, although several of the women were looking like they thought it was all awfully sweet.

"Thanks for loading my stuff." She looked around for her purse.

"Oh... no..." she muttered.

"What's wrong?" asked the boy.

"My purse... I left it in the bathroom..." She frowned. She'd been so anxious to get the baby back and to not be killed that she'd completely forgotten it.

"I'll watch your stuff," he said kindly. "You can go get it."

The people in line watched this exchange with interest.

Ino practically ran to the back- it was her favorite purse, and it had all her money in it. She was particularly lacking in wealth today but she would get her paycheck tomorrow, so she would be fine- as long as her purse was safe.

Finding it safe and also finding all her stuff still in it, Ino ran back up to the front, card out and ready to pay.

To her surprise, Ino found all her purchases bagged and waiting by the cashier, receipt on top.

"I didn't pay for these, ma'am," she told the aging cashier respectfully.

"Oh, yes, that boy did. He said it was to thank you for changing the baby's diaper for him. Wasn't it sweet of him? Do you know him?"

Ino shook her head. "If you ever see him again, would you thank him for me?" she asked the cashier, who nodded.

"He comes by every week, dear."

Ino thanked her and left, deciding that she, too, would do her grocery shopping on this day every week.

Grocery shopping wasn't really that bad after all.


	2. A Butterfly and A Baby

Ino _ran _to the bus stop.

It was right there! So close!

Gathering her chakra to her feet, she ran faster and faster until she was right there. She put her change in the little box thingy, and, breathing heavily, planted herself in the nearest seat. And so she was off to the mall for a nice, relaxing day of shopping with Sakura.

She shut her eyes. Her stop was a little ways away from here, and so she could stop and rest for just a little bit...

* * *

_Yank._

"Mmrm," Ino muttered. It was meant to come out as "Don't do that."

_Yank._

"Hey..."

_Yank!_

"Ouch! Who the-" Ino looked into a chubby baby face with a large purple bow in her dark curly hair, and two large eyes staring back at her. "Well, if it isn't the grocery store baby. Hey, Akane," she said, smiling.

"You know her?" asked the guy holding Akane.

Ino nodded. "I changed her diaper in a grocery store last week."

He wasn't the hot guy that had been so scary. He was the picture of one of those giant-teddy bear types. He was kind of big, and muscular, and probably would have terrified her under normal circumstances, but somehow the tiny baby he was carrying with him made him look sweet and gentle.

"Oh, yeah. Shika mentioned you. You're the diaper changing girl."

He smiled.

"Yup, that's me," said Ino, concluding that "Shika" was the boy. "I remember her. And her big red eyes."

The guy stuck out a hand. "My name's Akimichi Chouji. I was on his Genin team. Obviously, you know Sarutobi Akane. Our Genin team sort of adopted her. Only when her mom's tired, though." He grinned.

Ino shook his hand, smiling genially as well. "My name's Ino. Yamanaka Ino."

Chouji relaxed back into his seat. "Nice to meet you, Ino."

"Nice to meet you too, Chouji. So tell me: Is Akane a handful, ever?"

Chouji looked around the bus. There was one other man, sitting in the back, who was completely engrossed in his newspaper. His next words explained his caution.

"Her mom's a Genjutsu specialist with a rare Bloodline, and her dad was an _everything _specialist. So... yeah, she gets into a bit of trouble once every now and then. Especially since she inherited the bloodline. Once we found the cat bringing stuff to her. And this is the world's crankiest cat. Obeying Akane's every whim. We're not sure how, but we think she put a genjutsu on the cat."

Ino laughed appreciatively, and Akane stood up and yanked on Chouji's hair. "Chou-ji!" she said.

"Yes, Akane?"

"Chouji!" And then she started to babble.

When she stopped, Chouji gestured to Ino. "Akane, this is Ino. Ino-san. Say hello to Ino-san," he said in a baby voice.

"Ino!" said Akane happily. "Ino Ino Inoinoinoino!" She said it so fast it started to sound like "no."

Ino picked Akane up and smiled at her. Chouji pulled her away and held her high up in the air. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she giggled happily. A bell suddenly sounded to let them know that someone's stop was approaching.

"Oh, that's our stop," said Chouji, looking up and pulling Akane down. "Once again, it was nice to meet you,Yamanaka Ino."

"Nice to meet you, too," she said. "Tell your friend- Shika?- I said hi, too." she said.

That was when she looked at the stop number.

Oh, -

"I missed my stop!" she said, and flew off the bus in the opposite direction of a confused Chouji and Akane, whipping out her cellphone and finding it was on Silent and had 10 missed calls from Sakura. She quickly dialed Sakura's number.

"Sakura, you are _so _not going to believe what happened to me today!"

* * *

Hello! (Warning: This is a very long AN. And I tend to write those frequently.)

This hasn't got any particular direction as of yet... so... yeah. Also, I don't hang out with little kids much, but what Akane does is what they do in my experience (laugh and giggle and babble at you. So very cute!).

Anyway, this will be continued, but I've got other stuff I'm working on (y'know, school... all that junk, and also I have another account on here for various reasons... so I have to keep that one up too. xD.)

So I hope you liked it, and please review. I've got a possible third chapter, though due to events that I had not foreseen but happened in this chappy, it's got to be revised.

Thanks for reading, and see ya later!


	3. A Boy Without A Baby

I am still working on ages. It's kinda hard when Ino and Shikamaru don't know each other. I'm debating between Shikamaru being older, or them being all the same age but never having met.

* * *

Ino, as she had decided last week, came to the grocery store again the next week on the same day. 

She wandered through, trying to look as though she was finding things to make it seem as though she wasn't looking for that boy and Akane.

Completely absorbed in a shampoo that she hadn't seen before, Ino failed to notice after spending all that time searching that the boy walked right by her.

"Hey, you. How troublesome," he said and gave her a weird look. "Did you... meet a guy named Chouji at a bus stop, perhaps?"

Ino jumped, and finally realized it was him. "Hi... Yeah, I did. Don't you have Akane with you today?"

He shrugged. "Last week her mom needed some time off. Today she wanted her kid. I'm fine with it either way."

"Thanks," said Ino. He looked surprised.

"Huh?" he asked.

"You paid for my groceries. I'm so grateful," she said, embarrassed. "I never asked you to."

He shrugged again, embarrassed too. "You changed Akane's diaper. I figured it was a fair trade."

Ino shook her head. "Whatever it was, I'm really grateful to you... I think you did more than I deserved. If you ever need a favor, I'll repay you. Or I could just pay you back for them."

The boy frowned, which she assumed meant he was thinking. It was an adorable expression.

"I can't think of anything at the moment... And I didn't expect anything from you. So no, don't pay me back for the groceries. Lemme have my good deed of the day..." His stomach growled. He blushed, another adorable expression. Ino found herself liking him more and more the more he talked. "Although I suppose if you really want to pay me back, we could go out to lunch..." He grinned. "I've currently only got enough money with me for the stuff on this list. And I'm really hungry. I didn't eat breakfast today."

"Come to think of it, I'm hungry too..." said Ino. "Tell you what. You pick the place, I'll pay, and we'll consider it all repaid." Thanks to his good deed last week, Ino had a little extra money which could be used for this purpose.

He nodded. "Sounds good to me. Let's finish grocery shopping first, though." _YES_! _I get to have lunch with him! Oh, yes. I rule._

They wandered through the store for a while, studying prices... or rather, Ino studied prices. Ino was the type of person to search for the _absolute best price_ she could get, whereas he was more likely to just buy something.

Ino learned that he did not care about anything other than Akane, his job, and his games. She told him about her part-time job as a flower store clerk, along with ninja work. He seemed to appreciate it.

"What flower shop do you work at?" he asked.

"Yamanaka Flowers. It's my dad's old place, actually, but they kept the name when he gave it up." She shrugged. "If the people who own it now give it up, I'm buying it from them. I'm saving up."

"That's cool. Along with being ninja, my family business is taking care of deer."

Ino looked at him in disbelief. "No. Way."

"Way."

"That's awesome!" She was shocked. That was just too weird. In a cool way.

It then occurred to her that his family business might be the reason that guy at the bus stop called him "Shika".

He scratched his head. "Glad ya think so. Kinda troublesome at times, though."

"Still, that's pretty cool."

"Flower shops are nice places, too."

They chattered randomly throughout the rest of the time and bought their stuff. He suggested Ichiraku's Ramen as a good place to go out for lunch.

"You can actually walk there from here," he said. "It'll be easier than to try and guide you there, and then we can walk back here."

She turned to him in the middle of their walk. Actually, in the middle of a sentence. Hers, anyway, at least she wasn't interrupting him.

"I just realized-" she began. "I don't know your name." Well, nicknames don't count.

"My name is Nara Shikamaru," he offered. Oh. Of course. Shikamaru, Shika, deer... Cute.

She nodded. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. You said your family business is deer, right?"

He grinned. "That's where I got my name from."

"Nice to meet you, Shikamaru," said Ino.

"Nice to meet you too."

Within a few minutes, they reached Ichiraku's and Ino took in her surroundings.

It was a small-town, tiny place that sold mainly ramen. It had a dark alley next to it that you couldn't pay Ino to go into after 5:00, and judging by the state of the counter, it had probably barely passed its last health examination. But the food smelled delicious and the people were nice, and Ino found herself laughing with Shikamaru, the waitress, and the cook (the latter two apparently being father and daughter, along with being the sole owners of Ichiraku's), and thoroughly enjoying herself.

Shikamaru seemed to get along nicely with them, smiling with the younger waittress and challenging her father to a nice round of Shogi at a later date.

Ino ordered chicken ramen. Shikamaru ordered miso.

"So," asked Ino. "What exactly is your relationship to Akane?"

"Er, my jounin-sensei- his name was Asuma, and he was the greatest guy ever. Played shogi with me all the time." Shikamaru took a mouthful of ramen.

"He was really... cool. He was a good teacher. He saved my life more times than I can count, and he taught me a lot about how to be a ninja." Shikamaru contemplated the air in front of him for a moment.

"Last year, he died."

Ino coughed. "I'm so sorry," she said. And she was. It was clear Shikamaru had thought a lot of this person.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Not your fault, was it? Anyway, it was a total random thing. Kinda sad, really. It could have been anyone- could have been me- but it was him."

He paused again. "Troublesome, ne?" And swallowed hard- but he hadn't had any ramen in his mouth. "Anyway, his girlfriend- well, actually it turned out they were married in secret- his wife gave birth a few months later." He smiled a sort of depressed-half-smile. "She gave birth to Akane."

"Is that why she's so precious to you?" Ino asked.

He nodded. "Also, Kurenai had a Genin team of her own. They adore Akane, too."

Ino smiled. "She's lucky to have so many ninja taking care of her."

Shikamaru nodded. It became silent again.

* * *

After lunch, he thanked her. 

"That was good," he said, smiling. "Thank you. Anyway, I've got to go back home- Kurenai has been known to nap around this time every day, and I'm not sure who's home to take care of Akane."

"So you all just go to her house all the time?" asked Ino. Shikamaru hadn't really explained how all the ninja took care of Akane.

Shikamaru nodded. "If all of us are there, Chouji and Hinata make dinner. Shino and Kiba clean and do general chores. I usually watch Akane, and so does Airi," he said, looking matter-of-fact about it all. "Kurenai, of course, helps do that. But usually, not all of us are there. So whoever's there just fills in for the other person." He shrugged again.

Ino had no idea who any of those people were, but she didn't really bother to ask.

"Can I have your phone number?" asked Ino suddenly. Shikamaru blinked at her.

"Eh?" He gave her a weird look.

"Here," said Ino, pulling out a small pad of paper and a pen. She scribbled some numbers on it, then handed it to Shikamaru. "If you guys are ever absolutely stuck without people- if all of you are on a mission or something and need someone to help her out- call me. I'm usually free. My job as a medic-nin isn't very demanding... I'm a citizen's doctor. Which means I can do work as a pediatrician if you need one."

She handed the pad of paper to him.

"Write your number down, too," she said.

He complied. _ Score!_ Inner Ino screamed._ I got his number! Go me!  
_

"Thanks," he said, smiling. "See ya 'round."

And he left.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ino did a small victory dance and ran home to put his number in her cell phone.

* * *

Please review!

Oh, and Airi is an OC, if you were wondering. I've written only a few in my lifetime- but none of them were major characters. Airi won't be a major character, but you won't be able to forget she exists. I have a personality worked out for her, but I won't give out her entire profile because I'm hoping that you'll get to know the kind of character she is by my writing. Here is some basic info, though, just to help you picture her before Ino sees her:

(name meanings/ comments in parentheses)

_Name_: Takahashi Airi (love, affection, jasmine/pear) (subject to change)

_Parents_: Takahashi Ayame (iris) and Akio (bright, hero, manly, husband). Her mother's family is a line of loyal and good shinobi. Her father's family owns grocery stores.

_Status_: Jounin

_Appearance_: brown eyes, brown hair, medium height, pale skinned

Don't worry. The story won't turn ShikaOC. :)

That's all for now! See ya next chapter.


	4. A Baby Without A Boy

Airi yawned and stretched.

She'd overslept, but not by much. It was 8:15, and she was supposed to have woken up five minutes ago because Shikamaru had to leave on a mission.

She unwillingly got out of bed, and took a five minute shower, but spent ten minutes trying to get those two strands of hair that her mom _insisted _upon her having ("Your hair looks so cute when layered, dear! The bangs are adorable, and so if you just have that middle length right _here_, about your chin, it'll look sort of like that Hinata girl's. She's so sweet...") into a ponytail, and finally gave up when it was officially proven that they were too short. As it was every day. She inspected her face in the mirror, and, deciding that she didn't want to bother with makeup, got dressed in her usual outfit (her fave sweatpants and a t-shirt).

"Hey, Akane!" she said cheerfully when confronted with the toddler, who was currently toddling around on her two mini-sneaker-clad feet.

Akane looked happy to be noticed. _Not that she'd been ignored at all_, Airi thought wryly, as Hinata, who was visible cooking in the kitchen from Akane's position and height, made a handsign and was heard by Airi's ninja ears to mutter a whispered "Byakugan: Deactivate".

"Shika gone. Shika say bye-bye!" She grinned. Airi smiled back.

"Looks like it's just you and me today, honey," she replied. "Shika's gone off on a mission, and Mommy isn't feeling well. He'll be back in a while. And she'll be better soon."

Akane had lost interest, though. She had spotted something of interest just down the hallway, and begun to crawl (having lost her balance on her feet) towards the other end. Airi followed close behind. With Akane, it was best to just follow along and save her from herself. For now. Airi intended that they put a stop to all this soon, but Shikamaru, who was basically _destined _to dote on her in Asuma-sensei's place, seemed to have no problem with the role of being Surrogate Daddy for a Daddy's girl.

"Akane, no," said Airi gently, removing the kunai from the toddler's path. Akane frowned, but moved onto the shiny thing behind it almost immediately.

"Oh, that's where Hinata's necklace went," Airi muttered to herself. Well, best to keep Akane from eating it. Once she had moved on- and she would move on, soon, Airi would retrieve the necklace and hand it back to a soon-to-be-very-happy Hinata.

Akane picked it up and frowned at it. Airi vaguely wondered if she recognized it- associated it with the shy Hyuuga girl.

"Hina!"

Even if Akane was destined to be spoiled, she was also destined to be pretty smart.

"That's right, Akane. That's Hina's," she said. "Do you want to take it to her?"

"Hina! Up!" said Akane imperiously. Sighing, Airi lifted the small girl into her arms.

"Want to go see Hina-chan?"

Akane nodded.

"Okay, then. Hinata!" called Airi.

Hinata's head poked out from the kitchen doorway to the hall they were in. "Yes, Airi-san?"

"It's just Airi, Hinata. And Akane found your necklace."

Hinata squealed with delight. "Oh, thank you, Akane-chan! You too, Airi..." She trailed off, for once listening to Airi and leaving off the suffix. "Oh, and Shikamaru said that he had asked someone to help out, since Kiba had mentioned to him that you might be tired."

Airi nearly dropped Akane. "He said that? Really?"

Hinata smiled. "Of course he did. They were awfully worried, since you'd just come back from a mission and all. I hope that is all right?" As usual, Hinata's final statement was, in tone, a question.

"That's fine by me,"Airi responded, trying to keep her general tone of conversation all the same.

Airi was, in fact, elated. Kiba! Worried! About her! Today was a good day.

She really ought to have gotten over that Genin-days crush, but Kiba was always so... sweet and kind! They'd been good friends since Academy, when Akamaru had basically attached himself to Airi. She loved the large, sweet dog. And the crazy boy that came with him.

"Airi? Airi-san?" asked Hinata, waving her hands in front of the Jounin's face. "You really are tired, aren't you! I sure hope Yamanaka-san comes soon."

Airi then had to run after Akane, who had somehow slipped out of her grasp and was currently chasing down the cat.

"Let me know when they get here, okay?" asked Airi.

"Of course," said Hinata, nodding, and went back into the kitchen.

* * *

Hinata prepared breakfast diligently, every day, nearly. Her particular skills and inherited talents weren't usually needed by the village, as there were several other particularly capable Byakugan-users, so she hardly went on missions where she was required to stay unusual lengths away from home. She had obtained a temporary leave on the grounds of helping Kurenai adjust to life with a baby and without her husband, and happily stayed in the kitchen with Chouji day after day.

Hinata did not mind this. She enjoyed it much more than she enjoyed killing people- which wasn't saying much, to be honest. But still, she was happy and content and occasionally burnt, but that was okay. She was doing something she loved with the people she loved around her and she was in no mood to change this.

She turned back to the currently cooking breakfast.

"Hey, Hinata," said Chouji, stepping in lightly for someone so very large. He stepped in beside her and grabbed a few cups. "I'll get everyone's drinks ready."

They smiled at one another and went on with their tasks.

* * *

"Oh, you're missing one," said Hinata, surveying Chouji's work five minutes later.

He counted on his fingers. "You, me, Airi, Akane, Kurenai... Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino are on missions, 'member?"

Hinata shook her head. "You mean Shikamaru didn't warn you? He asked some girl to come help out today. Yamanaka Ino, I believe her name was..."

Chouji frowned.

"I never heard about-"

The doorbell rang.

Hinata blinked. "Suppose that's her?"

"I'll get it!" called Airi from the other room.

Chouji and Hinata turned back to the food.

* * *

"Hello," said Airi upon opening the door.

"Hey," said the blonde standing there in sweatpants and a t-shirt. "I'm Ino. Does Akane live here? Or Shikamaru, but he said he was going on a mission and that's why he asked me-"

Airi nodded. Clearly the girl was nervous.

"Come on in," said Airi. "We really are short on people today. I'm glad you came." She gave the girl the warmest smile she could muster and gestured to the inside of the house. "Kurenai's sick... we think with the flu bug that's going around so she's staying in her room, basically quarantined for now. Shikamaru and two other people are on missions. Chouji and Hinata can only be here for a little while today. Thanks so much."

"You're welcome," said Ino brightly. "Glad to help. I met Akane the other day- oh, and Shikamaru too- in the grocery store. Kinda long story, but he was busy and I changed Akane's diaper for him and he paid for my groceries. Which was really nice of him, I think."

"Ino!" said Chouji, poking his head out the kitchen door. "I thought that might be you."

"Hi, Chouji!" said Ino. Inwardly, she relaxed. Even if he wasn't really very familiar, Ino had found Chouji to be one of those comforting people. He was one of those people that was just... nice.

"Good to see you again," he said genially. "Here in the kitchen with me is Hyuuga Hinata. You're talking to Airi. Most everyone else is out, or else I'd introduce you to them."

Ino nodded. A dark-haired girl stepped out from behind Chouji. "Nice to meet you, Yamanaka-san." She bowed politely.

Ino bowed as well. "Nice to meet you too, Hyuuga-san."

"Please, call me Hinata."

"Then please call me Ino."

Hinata smiled, and Ino smiled back.

"And you are Airi, I guess," said Ino, turning to the girl with the brown ponytail.

Airi put out a hand. "Hello, Ino."

Ino shook it. "Hello, Airi."

"And of course you've already met me and Akane, and you can meet Kurenai later when she's feeling better," said Chouji. "Now, me and Hinata have to get back to breakfast before it burns."

"Did you by any chance eat breakfast this morning?" asked Hinata.

Ino shook her head. "I never do."

"Today's a good time to start, then," said Chouji, still smiling kindly at her.

The two retreated to the kitchen, and Ino was tempted to follow them; judging by the delicious smells, breakfast was going to be really good.

But she turned her attention back to the red-eyed baby tugging on her pants leg.

"'No. 'No! 'NO!"

Ino smiled at the abbreviation of her name. "Yeah, Akane?"

"Want up."

Ino assumed this to mean "pick me up", so she did. Akane giggled and pulled at her hair. "Pwetty!"

"Thank you. I happen to like it, too."

"Akane, don't pull on other people's hair..." said Airi.

Ino shrugged and detached Akane's hand. "It'll be fine."

"Well, okay, then..."

Akane pointed down the hallway, so Ino went in that direction too. As they passed by a closed door that said "Shikamaru" on it, Akane frowned. "Shika!"

"You miss him, huh?" asked Ino.

Akane's face answered with a pout. "Shika!" She pointed at the room. Airi opened the door.

"It's kind of just Shikamaru's shogi practice room." She smiled. Ino supposed it was sort of an inside joke.

Until she entered.

Various shogi books were scattered across the floor. Plays were mapped out on boards that were also on the floor. The bed didn't look slept in, and several drawers were open in the dresser- and empty.

"He doesn't live here, does he?" asked Ino.

Airi frowned. "Well, a lot of the time he just falls asleep wherever he is." She shrugged. "Not really, no."

Ino nodded, still confused.

Akane poked a few pieces on a shogi board near her. She frowned as if in thought, and poked them forward slowly.

"She's Daddy's girl," said Airi without thinking, and was a little surprised at Ino's gaping reaction.

"Shikamaru's her dad?"

Airi threw her hands up. "No! No, what I meant was that Shikamaru is a lot like her dad, and he kind of acts like a father to her. You know, dotes on her... stuff like that. I don't think he can help it." Airi grinned. "It's so cute."

Did Airi like Shikamaru? Ino wondered. She didn't have long to ponder this, before she and Airi snapped back into babysitter mode as Akane aimed for her mouth with a shogi piece.

"Akane, no!"

"Sweetie-"

Akane started to cry. Both kunoichi had nearly pounced on her.

"Oh, no, sweetie, it's all right," Ino said. Akane's wailing slowed down to sniffles. Airi picked her up.

"Maybe we should leave," said Ino. Airi nodded.

"Yeah, let's go to her room."

Ino laughed upon opening the door this time.

Akane's room was your average little girl's room, pink teddy bears lining the borders of the walls, with the walls behind it painted a matching pink. Her crib was a standard affair, light-colored wood, a mobile on top. What Ino found laughable, however, was the dull kunai and shuriken strewed about the floor. She picked one up.

"Is she training to be a ninja?"

Airi laughed. "No, it's just that when she was littler and we sent the guys off to get toys for her they had no idea what to get, and so they just dulled- practically cut off, actually- the edges of their shuriken and kunai. They're sort of lazy. She likes it, though, so we keep them here for her, and occasionally dull them more."

Ino fiddled with a shuriken, spinning it round and round in her fingers. Other, more acceptable children's toys could also be found, but Akane was busy throwing the shuriken at her crib- of course, the fact that they were dull and the other fact that she couldn't spin them properly when throwing prevented her from really causing any harm. There was a dent or two in her target, but Ino supposed that Akane's throwing was like a monkey's typing- sometimes you got Shakespeare, and other times you got gibberish.

"Breakfast!" called Hinata from the other room.

Akane looked up at the sound of the girl's voice, and, possibly recognizing the word, began to crawl out. Airi scooped her up and briskly walked out the hall.

Ino trailed after them, and inhaled the smell of actual, real cooking for once. Yup, she liked these people.

* * *

So... yeah. I like it, and I hope you do too... but whether or not you enjoyed it, review and let me know what you think!

Eh, so- my life has gotten kind of busy lately, which is why I don't update as often as I wish. : / Sorries.

Pairings that might be subject to change: ChoujiHinata, KibaAiri, ShinoHanabi. ShikaIno is set in stone, people. Don't worry about that. No one's going to come between them, either. (I think...)


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